1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of network communications systems employing routers for directing communication of voice-mail messages, in a packet switching network environment and particularly to routers having no secondary storage available for storing the voice-mail messages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a voice mail message is transmitted to a party over a telephone system, it is desirable for the party to be able to playback the message in order to edit or delete the same, if needed. In some present-day communications systems, telephone devices are generally connected to routers (or access servers) through the Public Service Telephone Network (PSTN). Within the router, a voice-mail message received from the telephone device, is converted to an electronic mail (email) message and later transmitted to its point of destination, which may be a Personal Computer (PC) or other types of communications devices capable of receiving email messages. To provide an efficient and less costly communications system, the email message is generally encoded or compressed within the router prior to transmission thereof.
To perform editing on a voice message at the time it is converted to an email message, the entire message must be stored in a secondary storage device such as a hard disk or nonvolatile memory. There are a number of reasons for the need to maintain storage of the entire message. Firstly, to edit a voice message, it is desirable to listen to and have access to the entire message. Moreover, if the user wishes to copy others on the message, the entire message must first be received and stored before it is distributed pursuant to the user""s instructions. Secondly, even if it is possible to edit the message while only a portion of the message is received, it is nearly impossible to keep up with editing instructions while receiving the entire message. It is therefore necessary to maintain the message in a storage area.
Generally, however, routers lack secondary storage capability for various reasons, such as cost and size, and consequently cannot be used for the purpose of editing voice-related mail messages.
Therefore, the need arises for network communications systems using routers, or other network devices without secondary storage, to allow for editing, copying and other manipulation of voice-mail messages, which are converted to email messages within the network devices, and transmitted to the recipient.
Briefly, a voice communication system for use in a packet switching network environment, including a host server, for communicating voice information, initiated by a telephone user, to an electronic mail (email) recipient includes a network device. A public switching telephone network (PSTN) includes at least one telephone device for communicating the voice information therethrough. The host server is responsive to email messages, transmitted in packet form, through the packet switching network. The network device is responsive to a voice message generated by the telephone user and is operative to convert the voice message to an email message, establish a first connection between the network device and the host server for transmission of the email message, edit the voice message pursuant to commands from the telephone user and transmit the email message, in the form of packets, to the host server for storage thereof and transmission thereafter to the email recipient, wherein the voice message may be manipulated by the telephone user prior to the transmission thereof by the network device without the use of secondary storage within the network device.